June talk: The Ken Stradling Collection

 A Friend's group first visited the Stradling Collection in 2014; the first year it opened, and here's the post about that visit. After his death last year, aged 100, I hoped the Stradling Collection would be able to continue operating as a wonderful resource and repository of some exceptionally beautiful arts and crafts items for the home collected over the 60 years Ken was a buyer for the Bristol Guild.

Cleo Saunders, a Trustee of the Ken Stradling Collection gave us a wonderful illustrated talk via Zoom in June. A recording is on our website, but I'll include photos I took from the screen here along with some notes. Cleo started by talking about the fact that after the war, Ken, in 1948 went to work at the Bristol Guild which was responsible for bringing the best of design to Bristol. Local craftspeople showcased their work in the shop.

In the late 50s and 60s, people were interested in buying modern furniture such as moulded plywood seen below.

The Festival of Britain in 1951, an inspirational exhibition to demonstrate to people that art and design was about the future.

Below an interior illustrating many pieces of furniture which became available in the Guild 

In 1958 Ken travelled to Scandinavia with his wife to buy some pieces of furniture in a break from tradition of buying locally made furniture and things to decorate the home.

And also to Italy, buying stock for the Guild, but also beginning his own collection of fine things.

This table has very small drawers in it and the monkey is an articulated wooden toy

This Danish moulded glass piece is 2 foot tall;  glass was one of Ken's favourite things to collect

The Design Council in London would only stock British designed objects, a few of which can be seen below

The desk lamp dates from 1966, it was designed by Robert Welch, inspired by an astronaut's helmet, and reflecting the interest in space. I think we can all remember the stainless steel kitchen items, many of us still may have a kettle similar to the one in the photo below

Below can be seen glass by Sam Herman, jug by John Leach and a wooden bowl by Jim Partridge. We were fortunate to have many of Sam Herman's pieces and the man himself at a talk in 2016. I really like them and thought I'd see how much they are to buy; they're in the region of £5-7k.

Below the oval Rooster dish by Nicholas Vergette is gorgeous, as is the coffee pot by Michael Cardew and the bull by William Neweland

A trip to the Stradling Collection is on the cards again for me when they reopen after an August break. In the meantime, they have a window exhibition of Captain Ed's hand made shirts, what a fabulous idea.

In the photo above you can get an idea idea of what the house full of Ken's treasures looks like, and below a sample of his plate collection

This is what the outside of 48 Park Row looks like, it's small and easy to miss. I think this may be Ken and Cleo together.

Ken retired from The Guild in 2006, and transferred his lovely collection into 48 Park Row which comprises 4 stories and a cellar; it opened to the public in 2014. 

Above is the downstairs gallery area with its memorable Smile sculpture on the wall

Ken Stradling was awarded an MBE, given by Peaches Golding in 2021, and on 7 January 2022 celebrated his 100th birthday. Thank you Cleo for sharing the wonderful story of Ken Stradling MBE, and his legacy.

Lucy Abel Smith on Collecting

 For years I have been fascinated by the gardens at Quenington Old Rectory with interesting layout of different rooms and surprises round the corner as more sculptures appear. Rare Plant Fairs are held on the lawn, last year in spring when the Darmera peltata were flowering along the riverbank, they looked fantastic.  Lucy and David Abel Smith have lived in the Old Rectory for 37 years have developed not only the exterior, but also the interior as well in their own style. Lucy a self-confessed collector, is also involved in many projects, some outlined in the fascinating Guardian Interiors article in 2019. We have visited two sculpture shows as a Friends' group, and looking forward to visiting the 2024 show Lucy is preparing already. I was thrilled when Lucy agreed to give an illustrated Friends' talk via Zoom and having just returned from a book festival in Transylvania, the timing was not ideal. I took photos from the screen as Lucy talked and will try and fill in with some of the things covered.

Born in Scotland, Lucy was very aware of the Scottish colourists' work and her Father's collection of snuff boxes, seen above, and enjoyed handling them.

Above is a photograph of their east facing dining room in Quenington Old Rectory where the first thing they commissioned was a table designed by Fred Baier and chairs designed by William Burgess. Below the design of the archway fresco is based on the wonderful stone arches over the doors at the nearby Quenington Church, depicting the first coronation of the virgin.

This flatware set, below, was designed by Lucian Taylor

Lucy is a great collector of glass, and began collecting it aged 21, she mentioned Sam Herman, the great glass collector who talked to us in 2016: Friends of Swindon Museum & Art Gallery: Sam Herman in conversation with Graham Cooley  below you can see one of Lucy's pieces designed by Simon Moore

This bangle was designed by Wendy Ramshaw and held together with magnets, which must make wearing it quite difficult

This stained-glass piece is by Antony Newell and depicts Lucy and David, I think

Below is a photo of the drawing room where there is lots of inherited brown furniture

Here below is more of the glass collection

and then Lucy talked about the garden where there's a Loutro Bateman split bridge and the beautiful round library seen on the right of the photograph below designed by Michael Gold.  

Above is a photo of one of the seats in the garden, and below a tribute to Esme Bradburne who joined the gardening team aged 79and used her organic principles in the garden. The lettering says 'The soul of man resembles the water, the fate of man resembles the wind'. 

There are some lovely water sculptures in the garden, like this one below. 

My favourite is the large one in the centre of the river which I try and photograph every time I visit:

Lucy finished off by showing us some of her favourite small pieces:

Below is a glass piece by Angela Thwaite

and this ceramic piece is a Hans Coper

Thank you once again Lucy Abel Smith for such an extensive tour around your collections, looking forward to visiting the next Rare Plant Fair and of course the 2024 Sculpture show.

The Ingram Collection

 Our September talk was by Jo Baring, Director and Curator of the Ingram Collection. It was richly illustrated and such a treat that it has taken me ages to feel I could write anything to sufficiently convey how magnificently inspiring I found it. Chris Ingram started collecting  Modern British Art a number of years ago, having been passionate about art since the late 1960s, and Jo was a Director at Christie's when she joined Chris Ingram in organising the work he does with the collection. 

Her brief is to organise sharing the art with the widest possible audience; works are loaned widely making them the most significant and publicly accessible collection. There are around 600 works of art in the collection. 

Works from the Ingram Collection are on medium term loan to The Lightbox, a wonderful gallery in Woking, Chris Ingram's home town; 4 exhibitions a year are drawn exclusively from the Ingram Collection. Keeping in mind the aim of making art accessible, The Lightbox has exhibitions where people can touch the sculptures. In 2019 they collaborated with James Russell with 130 works loaned to the Ferens Gallery in Hull, in an exhibition entitled 'Reflection' considering 'Can art help with the national identity crisis in the time of Brexit?' In 2017 100 pieces were lent to the Jerwood Gallery in Hastings, I found this article about the exhibition in Home And Garden magazine. Also the Jerwood Gallery is now called Hastings Contemporary.

Jo gave us a slide show to illustrate the variety of works in the collection, starting with one of the Meat Porter sculptures by Ralph Brown RA in the courtyard of the Royal Academy. It's great to see it on public display, because of its size, it would be hard to live with at home.

Highlights of works in the Ingram Collection include 'Lifts' by Cyril Power of the Grosvenor School, and below Sybil Andrews 'Windmill' a lino cut print

I think Jo described Edward Burra as one of the 'pockets of brilliance' in the collection, and this work below 'Ropes and Lorries' 1942-3 is often mentioned.

Chris Ingram is still acquiring works, but bought Burra years ago, apparently he says 'When others zig, I zag'

This painting above 'Sea and Rocks' is by Laura Knight. The biggest Laura Knight exhibition in over 50 years has opened recently at the MK Gallery in Milton Keynes, definitely one not to miss.

I loved this Nevinson 'La Corniche' painted in 1920 a depiction of a town on the Cote d'Azur

The 'Garden of Eden' by William Roberts above is a beautifully composed painting, had to be removed when it was first displayed. The stag in the background is wonderful. There are 18 works by William Roberts in the Ingram Collection and more works on paper.

The last piece I have included is 'Seated Woman' by Henry Moore 1947-9 and of it Chris Ingram says: 

''I bought this because I liked it, not because it was by Henry Moore. I’ve never been swayed by 'names' or who are considered important artists. I have always bought things I liked and this has always served me well."I feel that summarises a great approach to collecting, and it has really worked.

Thank you once again Jo Baring for introducing us to the Ingram Collection and some of the wonders therein.

An Art of the People: Collecting Studio Pottery

 Mike Yates, a passionate collector himself has recently written a beautiful booklet, about his own collecting journey, which not only goes into the history of studio pottery, but talks about some other avid collectors as well. It's an absolute must for anyone interested in ceramics.

Many of you will be familiar with Mike Yates from the talks he has given to the Friends, going back as far as 2012 when he gave a talk entitled 'Smashing Pots'  and more recently a talk on 'The Role of Ceramics' to accompany a ceramics exhibition of pots belonging to Mike and loaned for the exhibition. Here he is seen with an Ian Auld pot while talking to a packed gallery of members of the Friends..

Anyone who is a collector will recognise the collecting journey Mike takes us on, remembering the circumstances when each item in the collection was acquired. The main thing is that although there is a financial cost to collecting, it's always worth it if you love what you are collecting.
Mike mentions a bowl in the booklet made by Ursula Mommens , who has a fine heritage which he outlines. The bowl is just gorgeous, he bought it ten years ago from a gallery in London. The point is he still admires it and is still wondering if the fish look like flying fish; they do seem to be moving as seen below:

Another Mommens bowl, similar to this one, recently came up for auction it was part of a collection of some 1.200 pieces owned by Michael Evans, also known as Dayabandhu. His collection was featured in an article about his collection in a Design magazine produced by the Guardian recently:

 It's well worth clicking on the link to see the article and much better photos of Dayabandhu's collection.
One of the pieces Mike included in his booklet is this small pressed dish made by Shoji Hamada:

As well as considering the anatomy of collecting, Mike also gives helpful hints on where to find studio pottery including visiting Ceramics Fairs and where to find out about them.
This is a delightful book, if you are intrigued and would like to buy a copy please email admin@friendsofsmag.org
Mike has kindly offered to donate copies to us, so all profits from sales will go to the Friends. I'm selling them at £5 each including postage and packing. So please don't hesitate to buy one!!